WSJ: Obama to Visit China as Part of New Dialogue
LONDON -- U.S. President Barack Obama will visit China in the second half of the year, the White House said Wednesday.
Mr. Obama met Chinese President Hu Jintao on the eve of the Group of 20 summit. According to a White House statement, the leaders agreed to create a new "U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue," which will be led on the U.S. side by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. China will be represented by State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier Wang Qishan.
The White House said Obama accepted "with pleasure" an invitation by Mr. Hu to visit China. The new high-level dialogue will focus on economic, security and other issues, according to people familiar with the matter.
The discussions build upon an effort created under former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to engage with the Chinese government on everything from capital markets to energy. While Mr. Paulson included other cabinet secretaries in his high-level talks with the Chinese, he ran the effort out of Treasury. Mr. Obama is expected to split the duties between his Treasury secretary and his secretary of state, with both individuals concentrating on specific portfolios of issues.
The move is a sign of Ms. Clinton's clout within the administration. The White House said Messrs. Hu and Obama "concluded that continued close cooperation between the United States and China was critical at this time to maintain the health of the world economy and would remain so in the future. They both recognized that as major economies, the United States and China have a need to work together, as well as with other countries, to promote the smooth functioning of the international financial system and the steady growth of the world economy."
The White House statement didn't mention currencies, a continuing source of tension between the two countries.
China's leadership has grown increasingly assertive in recent weeks on economic and financial matters. Premier Wen Jiabao recently said China is worried about its huge stock of U.S. Treasury securities, an ominous warning given U.S. reliance on Chinese borrowing. Wednesday's statement said Mr. Obama underscored his commitment to halving the U.S. budget deficit once the economic recovery is established.
Mr. Hu, for his part, "emphasized China's commitment to strengthen and improve macroeconomic control and expand domestic demand, particularly consumer demand, to ensure sustainable growth, and ensure steady and relatively fast economic development," the White House said.
Write to Henry J. Pulizzi at henry.pulizzi@dowjones.com